discussion Franco Prussian war French artillerymen. 30mm flats of unknown origin.

[Tim Marlow]

Well, I got through them. These are 30mm flat figures, but I’m afraid I don’t know the manufacturer. I’ve always wanted to try flats and these were an impulse buy on eBay to see how I got on. They take a lot more thinking about than my usual little blokes, so subsequently take a lot longer than rounds ????. Anyway, hope you like them.


Yes, I did paint both sides ????.

The traditional calibration shot…more like jewellery than modelling.


…and yes, they really are flat….

 

[PaulTRose]

Fascinating! Never knew these existed
top notch work there

 

[Jim R]

Those are excellent Tim. I've seen "flats" painted before but those only had a single side moulding. These are something I've never seen before. Although many established techniques must be relevant to these I'll bet you did a fair bit of head scratching

 

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Tim. Flat figures must be very unique?

 

[Tim Marlow]

Fascinating! Never knew these existed
top notch work there

Cheers Paul. Glad you like them. There are many, many, thousands of them out there, of all periods in history, but mostly they come from Germany. Look up Zinnfiguren if you are interested.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Those are excellent Tim. I've seen "flats" painted before but those only had a single side moulding. These are something I've never seen before. Although many established techniques must be relevant to these I'll bet you did a fair bit of head scratching

Sure did Jim. Almost nothing I usually do was relevant apart from colour layering. Even the Imagined lighting direction was different to what I use on round figures.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice work Tim. Flat figures must be very unique?

Cheers Joe. They are a bit rarer in the UK, but over all, there are probably more flats in existence than there are round figures. They’ve been produced for well over a hundred years now. Have a look through here for a taster……

https://www.zinnfigur.com/en/Flat-Figures/Unpainted-figures/?makairaFilter[NEW]=true

there are many more out there, but the editors (that’s what they call themselves) are very “old school” and don’t really advertise on line. I first saw them as a little kid, probably about eight. Wilton house, a big country house near Salisbury, had a display of about six thousand arranged in large dioramas. It’s one of the things that hooked me into the figure world. That was a good fifty five years ago now, and they were old then….

 

[Airborne01]

Flats were very popular in the 70's but then seemed to disappear; good to watch you resurrecting the genre Tim. I think your work will inspire many others to try them!. If I remember correctly many of the premium manufacturers were German - some names on tip of tongue but 'senility' wins again!
Steve

 

[Tim Marlow]

Flats were very popular in the 70's but then seemed to disappear; good to watch you resurrecting the genre Tim. I think your work will inspire many others to try them!. If I remember correctly many of the premium manufacturers were German - some names on tip of tongue but 'senility' wins again!
Steve

I think the rise of the round 25mm figure around that time killed them off as a mainstream gaming figure Steve, so the market shrank considerably to the collectors only. Virtually all of the best editors and engravers were/are German. There are some French and British manufactures, but everything seems to be pretty much kept in the realm of secrets. Unfortunately it’s a world that doesn’t seem to have transferred well to the internet, so it’s very hard to trace and identify figures. The Brexit debacle has made P &P prohibitive from the EU so the supply has largely dried up.
Took me a good few hours to actually work out what these were, let alone who made them. I was convinced they were ACW to start with, but couldn’t find anything like them in my uniform information stash. I have nothing on the FPW, and there is little on the artillery troops on line, but I finally found one illustration of the uniforms these guys are wearing.
Glad you like them though.

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Nicely done Tim, good to see you back with the little blokes.
I find round figures challenging enough with moulded creases etc to define the shading. Clearly there's a lot more artistic skill required for these boys.
Top job!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nicely done Tim, good to see you back with the little blokes.
I find round figures challenging enough with moulded creases etc to define the shading. Clearly there's a lot more artistic skill required for these boys.
Top job!

Cheers Neil. There are some demarcation lines, but in effect it is like painting by numbers

 

[PaulinKendal]

Nice job, Tim.

After completing the bas-relief Action at Dennewitz I had a rummage for flats I might like, but, as you say, the market in them seems to be frustratingly inaccessible via the Internet.

But you've done a great job on these little fellas, well done indeed!

 

[Tim Marlow]

Nice job, Tim.

After completing the bas-relief Action at Dennewitz I had a rummage for flats I might like, but, as you say, the market in them seems to be frustratingly inaccessible via the Internet.

But you've done a great job on these little fellas, well done indeed!

Cheers Paul. There are some out there, but you have to look around a bit. Seem to remember there are a set of Crimean cavalry made in the UK, for example , but can’t remember the manufacturer.